


you're not alone

by softambrollins



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Late Night Conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 08:45:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17362775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softambrollins/pseuds/softambrollins
Summary: Leave it to Dean fucking Ambrose to betray him and turn his back on them and somehow still make him get out of bed in the middle of the night to come clean up his messes.





	you're not alone

**Author's Note:**

> This happens the night Seth entered the Rumble and [cut this promo](https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1081405425336152064/video/1).

Seth wakes up to his phone vibrating on the nightstand at three in the morning, startled and confused. It has to be a wrong number or something. The phone ringing at this hour only means bad news, and he can't handle any more of that.

He blindly reaches for it, dragging a hand over his eyes to rub the sleep away.

He doesn't really understand what the woman is saying to him, polite but businesslike at the same time. _Hospital. Concussion. Emergency Contact. Dean Ambrose._

None of it makes any sense. He saw Dean a couple hours ago when they were beating the piss out of each other. Another town, another arena, same story. There's no way Seth's his emergency contact. _Roman_ has to be… But oh, maybe it makes more sense than he thought.

He's sure Dean doesn't want to have anything to do with him. He probably would've been able to make that clear if he didn't get knocked out. Leave it to Dean fucking Ambrose to betray him and turn his back on them and somehow still make him get out of bed in the middle of the night to come clean up his messes.

He tells himself he's only doing it to show Dean that maybe he's actually _not_ better off on his own. That he's not actually right about everything all the time. He huffs a sigh and gets out of bed and starts pulling his clothes on.

*

He stops right inside the entrance of the ER, looking around until he can spot him. Dean has a black eye, a busted lip, bandaged ribs — and that's all he can see from this distance.

He just takes a deep breath before he approaches him, sitting on the edge of one of the beds.

Dean doesn't even looked surprised, like he almost expected him to show up. Or maybe it's just another act. Everything seems like an act with Dean now.

He just squints up at him under the bright, fluorescent lights and says, "You look like shit, man." So at least the concussion didn't fuck up his brain entirely.

"Look who's talking," Seth replies dryly.

Dean actually cracks a bloody smile at that that's pretty much indistinguishable from a grimace.

"What happened to you?" Seth asks, keeping his tone casual, like he doesn't actually care.

Dean shrugs. "I slipped and fell into some guy's fist. You know how it is."

Seth sighs. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll call a cab." 

He waits for Dean to put his shirt and jacket back on. He doesn't ask if he needs help. And then when he's found his way back to his feet with a deep groan, Seth just heads for the door.

He doesn't turn back to look, but he can hear the sounds of Dean slowly shuffling down the corridor after him.

They've just stepped out of the exit when Dean falls into step beside him and tells him, "You don't have to stay, you know. My hotel's not far from here, I can walk."

"You're not fucking serious," Seth tells him, raising an eyebrow. "You have a concussion. You're gonna trip and fall into a gutter and die."

"Why do you care?" Dean demands aggressively. 

"Why do I care?" Seth asks incredulously. "Because you still have my title, asshole. And you don't get to die before I take it back."

Dean just stares at him, looking at him like maybe he has a point. And then he seems to concede, and just starts walking in the direction Seth assumes his hotel is in, so he follows him.

The peace and quiet only lasts about half a block. Seth didn't expect anything else.

"I thought you were all about Brock and that big red belt of his now," Dean asks, and he can't hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Well, I got two shoulders, don't I?" Seth answers matter-of-factly.

"So, not even pretending anymore, huh? You just wanna take over the whole company, right? Are you really that power hungry, Seth?" He almost looks disappointed.

"Well, it's not like there's much more left for me, is there?" Seth says quietly.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asks, and he actually sounds frustrated now.

"It means — Roman's gone. And you keep running away from me. You won't talk to me. You won't even answer my calls. Tell me, Dean, what else am I supposed to do?" Seth says, looking over at him pointedly.

"I don't know," Dean replies offhandedly. "Maybe you can find a real personality."

"What?" Seth asks, genuinely taken aback. He stops in his tracks, and Dean turns to face him head-on.

"And I don't mean what _those people_ want you to be," he says mockingly. "Or who Hunter wants you to be. Not even what _I_ want you to be. Who the hell are you without all of that?"

"Dean —" Seth breathes. He's almost shaking with fury, but he can't say anything more, because somewhere deep down, he knows Dean isn't entirely wrong.

"Who the hell are you, Seth?" Dean asks, genuinely angry now. "Because I don't fucking know. Maybe I never knew."

"What about you, Dean?" Seth counters. "You used to _believe_ in something. You used to stand for something. Who the hell are _you_?"

"Just because I decided to stop putting up with your shit —"

"That's not what you did, Dean. You did something much worse. You abandoned me. You left me out in the cold. After I gave you everything. After I believed in _you_. You're the one who doesn't want this anymore. So you don't get to judge how I choose to deal with it." Seth can't stop his voice from breaking, and he can't look at him now, gaze falling to the pavement in front of him.

"Are you really dealing with it?" Dean asks after a second.

Seth just half-shrugs helplessly. "It's hard to get closure when I still don't even understand what's happening. So yeah, maybe it's time to just move on."

Dean just laughs mirthlessly, nodding his head. "You're such a fucking liar, Seth. Acting like you didn't see what was happening all along because it didn't play into your perfect, little vision of what you wanted this to be —"

"Shut the hell up, Dean," Seth says weakly, finally raising his eyes back up to Dean's face.

Dean's smiling at him but he looks like he's not enjoying any of this. He looks as fucking miserable as he has this whole time.

He gets closer to Seth now, right up in his face.

"Go ahead," Dean says, tilting his chin up at him. "Hit me."

" _No_ ," Seth says at once. He's not giving him what he wants. 

But he doesn't retreat. He just keeps his eyes fixed on Dean's.

Dean just shakes his head, his face twisting into a sneer, looking almost disgusted by Seth. He moves back away from him again.

"You don't give a _fuck_ about me, Seth," Dean growls. "Or anyone else. All you've ever cared about is getting to the top of the mountain. Don't even try to pretend."

They're stopped right under a streetlamp now and Seth just _looks_ at him under the glow. The stark lighting against the darkness washes him out, turning his cheeks hollow, and making him a wretched, terrifying sight.

Seth takes it all in, Dean's wrecked face, the pure anguish and rage in his eyes just like that night. And it feels like he's finally _seeing_ Dean for the first time in a long time. He thinks about the bravado and the self-righteousness that's been dripping off of him, thinks about the fucking sirens and gas masks and swat teams. The _moral compass_. Turning everything back on Seth. All so nothing and no one could ever get close to him again. Maybe all of it is Dean's way of coping. Maybe all of that is his new shield. 

Seth takes a step forward so he's standing in the light too. He reaches out and touches his fingers to the inside of Dean's wrist. Dean doesn't move, just stares back at him, looking slightly unsettled now, mouth parted a little, eyes wider. 

He moves even closer so he can touch his forehead to Dean's, bringing his other hand up to rest against his cheek. 

"You're not alone, Dean," he tells him softly.

He hears a tiny hitch in Dean's breath and then it gradually slows and evens out again.

They stay there for what feels like hours. Dean's eyes fall shut at some point. He looks more peaceful now than Seth's seen him in a long time, years maybe.

Seth finally pulls away, but just a fraction. He leans in and slowly brushes his lips against Dean's, exhales against his skin, their noses rubbing together. He feels Dean relax against him, then he breathes out and responds, lips opening to gently tug Seth's upper lip between them. Seth sighs and melts into the kiss but it only lasts another second or two again. Then they just stand there in each other's space, sharing warmth, feeling each other breathing, for a few more minutes.

Then Dean turns away from him and Seth moves back and they continue their walk back to the hotel, slowly and quietly, without saying a word. Side by side, through the dark.


End file.
